Washington, February 21 (ANI): Experts have warned that high
temperatures resulting from global climate change may increase
hospitalisations for respiratory problems.

This warning is based on an analysis of data from twelve European
cities, from Dublin to Valencia.

The data comes from the 'Assessment and Prevention of Acute
Health Effects of Weather Conditions in Europe' (PHEWE), a
multi-centre, three-year collaboration between epidemiologists,
meteorologists and experts in public health collaboration that
investigated the short-term effects of weather in Europe.

The researchers behind this analysis point out that climate change
has gone from a scientific theory to an accepted and encroaching
reality. They say that more extreme weather, including hotter summers,
is anticipated around the planet.

However, they add, the secondary effects of climate change are also
coming into sharper focus.

Upon evaluating the effects of higher temperatures on
hospitalizations for a number of different conditions in Europe, the
researchers found that for every degree increase over a temperature
threshold, there was a four percent average increase in
respiratory-related hospitalizations, but not for cardiovascular or
neurovascular- related problems.

"The PHEWE project represents the first attempt to evaluate
the effect of temperature on several morbidity outcomes using a
standardized methodology in a multi-center European study," wrote
Paola Michelozzi Ph.D., head of Environmental Epidemiology at the
Department Epidemiology of the Local Health Authority, in Rome.

Published in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal
of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the study tracked hospital
admissions in twelve European cities, each of which provided data for a
minimum of a three-year period between 1990 and 2001 that included
hospital admissions, meteorological and air pollution data.

The researchers then computed a "maximum apparent
temperature"-Tappmax for each city, using an index that accounted
for both air temperature and humidity.

According to them, Dublin had a Tappmax of 14.7A[bar]C (about
58A[bar]F) whereas Valencia's was 29.5A[bar]C (about 85A[bar]F).

The team said that in most cities, each degree increase over 90
percent of the Tappmax, respiratory disease-related hospital admissions
increased for all ages and especially in the 75+ age group.

While cardiovascular deaths are known to go up with the
temperature, there was a slight decrease in hospitalizations.

The researchers speculated that the acute onset of cardiovascular
events could result in sudden deaths before medical treatment was
possible.

"The contrasting pattern between admissions and mortality
could also be related to differences in physiopathologic mechanisms.
...[C]ardiovascular deaths during hot days tend to occur suddenly in
persons whose health is compromised. Respiratory mortality, on the
contrary, tends to peak later than cardiovascular mortality, with
effects observed up to three weeks after exposure.. ," wrote Dr.
Michelozzi.

Although the researchers observed the increase of
respiratory-related hospitalizations overall, the effect was
heterogeneous among cities, suggesting the need for further study.

"This is in part due to differences in exposure, the large
variability among the cities analyzed, the differences in adaptive
capacity and the vulnerability of populations due to their
socio-demographic characteristics, as well as differences in the
preventive measures in place," said Dr. Michelozzi.

"Moreover, across European countries there is wide variation
in healthcare and hospital admissions availability. Although all these
differences are important, our results document an effect of high
temperature on hospital admissions for respiratory causes in several
cities, and this is the strength of the study.

"These findings are important for public health because the
prevalence of chronic diseases, such as COPD, is expected to increase in
developed countries as a result of population aging.

"Furthermore, under climate change scenarios, the increase in
extreme weather events and certain air pollutants, especially ozone, are
likely to further aggravate chronic respiratory diseases. Public health
interventions should be directed at preventing this additional burden of
disease during the summer season. The observed heterogeneity of the
health effects indicates a need to tailor programs for individual
cities," the researcher added. (ANI)

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